


Puppy Love

by Camelabrakedabra



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Drinking, Implied Underage Sex, M/M, Suggestive Themes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-16
Updated: 2017-05-16
Packaged: 2018-11-01 11:27:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,841
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10920864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Camelabrakedabra/pseuds/Camelabrakedabra
Summary: Mark loves Johnny. His parents had called it puppy love, but he had fallen for him on the spot when they first met, and he was certain that the feeling was going to last.





	Puppy Love

**Author's Note:**

> This piece is pretty old, I think I wrote it around March but never managed to finish it off so now it's done even if it's a bit rough around the edges. It's mostly a practice piece to test writing styles and all, but also because Johnny/Mark has a relatively small tag and my sister and I spend like 140% of the time discussing alternate scenarios for them both. These scenarios include, but are not limited to Mark as a really young sugar daddy, Johnny as a drag queen, a particularly interesting poly relationship between Johnny, Mark, Taeil and Haechan, and Mark being part of a secret creeping club with Winwin and Hansol where they all help each other with seemingly unrequited love.
> 
> Those ideas may pop up eventually, but for now, please enjoy this random bit of prattle <3

Contrary to popular belief, Lee Mark isn't innocent in the slightest.

No, he's in love with Seo Johnny to an almost creepy level. He didn't think it'd go this far, but he can feel an almost obsessive feeling take over his senses every time Johnny smiles at him, and he feels like he's suffocating. It was a puppy crush to start with - that's what his parents called it, anyway - but Johnny was always incredibly affectionate with him and when he hugged Mark from behind, he found himself imagining how it would feel for Johnny's hands to move down from his waist, teasingly slowly and hesitant, until he finally ghosts his fingertips over the leg of Mark's trousers. He laid in bed that night and imagined how it would feel for Johnny's beautiful plump lips grazing the skin of his neck as he tells Mark how handsome he is, whilst that hand gently pawed him. He could almost feel Johnny's warm breath tickling the hairs on his nape as he let his fingers graze against the bare skin just below his navel.

It was a huge disappointment for Mark to open his eyes and see a completely dark, empty room. He's disgusted in himself, but he just can't stop himself whenever he's alone.

When he first became a rookie, Johnny informed Mark that his time at SM Entertainment was going to be a holiday fling. He'd been going back and forth since 2008, since his parents wanted him to study in Chicago still, but they were more than happy to send him back to Korea during his breaks at school in order to better his singing and dancing skills before he was due to debut. It absolutely crushed Mark, but at least then he had time to find other boys to take an interest in him between Johnny's visits. He was fourteen when they first met, and the chances of him still loving Johnny when they debuted was slim, considering that there were many other guys out there. After all, there was no guarantee that they would debut together, and considering that their aesthetic was wildly different, it was very unlikely that they would be in any of the same units.

Of course, it had fallen through completely, though. Not just with the fact that Johnny ended up debuting in one of his units, but also with his attempt at finding another boy. The closest he got to another crush was when his friends suggested that Lee Donghyuck was cute enough to replace Johnny in his heart. That had lasted all of two seconds since Donghyuck already had a boyfriend who was a lot older than Mark, although he wouldn't dare say who it was because apparently certain people have already badgered his boyfriend about not touching him until he's at least eighteen internationally. Of course, he points out that their relationship isn't like that and the most they've really done is kissed a few times, probably in hopes that it'll stop Mark from judging him over such a questionable relationship.

How could Mark judge him, though? Even if Donghyuck was dating the eldest person in NCT, Moon Taeil, the age gap isn't all too big really. Mark and Johnny have four years between them, and Donghyuck and Taeil have six. It's not too bad.

The only problem with age gaps, in his eyes, is that Johnny loathes it. Mark decided after the first two years that he would tell Johnny how he felt, since he wasn't prepared to pine over him constantly for Johnny to simply be oblivious to his feelings, but Johnny seemed to be more uncomfortable than anything else in all honesty. He had told Mark that he needed to be over eighteen for him to even consider a relationship, despite Mark's protests over it. He's of legal age of consent in Korea, with that being thirteen years internationally, and technically he _is_ eighteen in Korea. Korean children are one at birth, then age on the new year, as opposed to their birthdays. Besides, what was wrong with having a romantic but chaste relationship?

Naturally, he saw it coming when Johnny rejected him still. They're from America and Canada respectively, so he's sticking to international ages. He would only consider dating Mark from August 3rd 2017 or later. Mark wasn't happy when he was told that.

Johnny is still perfect in his eyes, though. Even though he sort of rejected Mark's feelings, he always made sure that the younger boy was happy and safe. As creepy as his feelings sometimes got, Johnny was always supportive of him. Before one trip back to Chicago, he noticed how upset Mark was getting over him taking his leave, and so left his bed unchanged. He invited Mark to sleep there with one of his stuffed whales, Jay, and expressed that they could feel closer together when he hugged his other whale, Blue, from across the world. He couldn't bear to leave both behind, unfortunately, but Mark was still satisfied by the fact that he was caring enough to leave one of his precious whales under his care. He was going to be away for quite a while, and Mark knows that the other members of the group would've been unable to leave their own sleeping companions behind for such an extended period of time.

On top of that, he never did get awkward with physical contact. He knew that Mark had feelings for him, and yet they can still cuddle or share food or take photos together, and he's even invited Mark to his bed late at night so that they could cuddle. Nothing more than cuddling, but there was always something really comforting to waking up with the giraffe of a boy spooning him, or for his head to be resting on Johnny's chest. It was the perfect way to wake up, and he didn't even care for the way that Johnny's body grew sweaty and warm when they cuddled in the summer, his grumpy morning face, nor his morning breath. Johnny had a thing about hygiene anyway and always showered in the morning and at night, and his teeth were brushed at least twice per day, so Mark had simply become accustom to the overwhelming smell of soap, deodorant and mouthwash every morning after they slept together.

Instead, their main problem was the fact that Mark was completely level-headed when he was around Johnny, but he easily lost his shit when they were apart. The physical contact was fine, sleeping in his bed was great, and he didn't even mind when Johnny flirted a little with the other boys (other than perhaps Ten, who had expressed a romantic interest in Johnny in the past; he was the only one who genuinely made Mark feel jealous). He didn't even get the urge to test his luck when they were together, which was great considering that his phone memory contained every photo that fans had taken of Johnny's shirt rising up whilst he was dancing or stretching up, plus a selection of his perfect ass hidden in various folders.

No, it was the late nights that made it difficult for him, especially when Donghyuck went to his room to talk about his boyfriend after everyone else had gone to bed.

The younger boy had expressed his concern for the fact that Taeyong was almost certainly going to beat his ass very shortly because his relationship took a new step. Taeyong somehow found out everything that happened under the roof, even the fact that Sicheng had bribed some of the older boys to buy him ice cream or fried chicken in exchange for hiding some of their secrets. He still wasn't ready to name his boyfriend and it was still low key enough for Mark to be unable to tell who he had been dating for so long, but even though he was sixteen internationally, they'd taken the next step. Granted, they'd been dating for quite a while by that point, but he was still so young and Mark was honestly a little bit jealous that the 127 maknae had taken that step well before he was ready to do so. It just made it worse when they discussed it in great detail as close friends, including everything right from how the younger boy had convinced his boyfriend to break the 'no touching' rule through to the aftercare. Mark had spent most of the time imagining Johnny touching him in that way instead and he felt awful about it, but at the same time, it was better than imagining Donghyuck doing something like that.

Yet, a part of Mark didn't quite see Johnny as the sort of guy to be as gentle as Donghyuck was describing. He didn't sound like the sort of guy who would agree to do that just because his much younger boyfriend tossed a condom at him out of the blue and absolutely insisted that he was ready to do that. Johnny would almost certainly tell Mark where to shove it if he was to do that and chew him out for a solid few minutes over how ridiculous it is. Likewise, Johnny isn't the sort of guy to get all mushy by telling him how much he loves him as he pops each button of his shirt one by one, and there'd be no way in hell that he would treat Mark like glass. They're both supposed to be grown ass adults, and if Mark can't handle it, they can stop until he's ready and not just desperate for attention. As much as Johnny seems to have a soft spot for him, he still takes no shit and would almost certainly be tough on him if he were to try to break through the boundaries that he'd put in place.

He tried to reimagine it in bed once his friend had left by playing out a scenario in his mind where they had already decided that they were going to be getting physical. He couldn't even imagine how that would happen, so he didn't try to come up with a specific situation that would result in it. The main focus in his head, though, was Johnny removing his shirt. The only bit of hair he ever had on his torso was a happy trail, which he usually removed with wax or hair removal cream. At the moment, though, Mark was well aware of the fact that it was growing back but Johnny was too lazy to even try to get rid of it again. Other than that he sometimes had underarm hair, and if Mark was being honest, he was really attracted to it. It was a sign of masculinity, and even though k-pop idols were well-known for being rather feminine in appearance, Mark liked that reminder that he was incredibly attracted to other boys. He'd spent too long in the closet trying to avoid the stigma in Korea to be pretending that he was dating a girl.

That image continued to replay over and over again in his head until Mark had absolutely exhausted it. He moved next to the thought of how their first kiss like that would be, since he had heard that it felt different to kiss someone in that sort of situation compared to when it was completely chaste.

He had to stop again as he came to realise that they hadn't even had their first _romantic_ kiss just yet.

The thought of their future first kiss was something that stuck with him for a solid week, and the only thing to pluck it from his mind was a discussion with Johnny about it. Unfortunately at that point, though, Johnny was taking advantage of his twenty-second birthday by drinking quite a bit of alcohol. He had tried more than anything to avoid showing the minors that he was drinking, but it was massively obvious in every way. The biggest was the fact that he had spent the entire week leading up to his birthday playing it off as if he didn't realise that his birthday was coming up, claiming that birthdays are no longer fun as an adult, but his mood had suddenly elevated to a really affectionate, happy state halfway through the day. Mark hadn't wanted to do bother him on his birthday weekend, especially not whilst he was slightly intoxicated, but Johnny had insisted on him visiting his room to spend time together.

The conversation had come up naturally, which was a great relief to the younger boy. "I haven't been kissed in so long," Johnny announced mid-conversation, "And out of the two people I'd really like to kiss at the moment, one of them is in a long-term relationship. Typical, huh?" Mark visibly forced a smile as he gave a nod, but Johnny quickly caught on to the discomfort in his expression and reached forward to stroke his cheek. "Hey hey, you're the other person, okay? I've been curious since you told me you liked me."

It caught Mark completely by surprise. He was glad that Johnny was confident enough to tell him that; frankly he never would have been able to do so if he was in Johnny's position. "Would you like to kiss me at some point, then?" he asked as he turned to face Johnny, and Johnny smirked as he took another sip of his drink.  
"You want me to kiss you, huh? How romantic does it need to be?" Mark started to explain that it didn't need to be anything big, until Johnny reached up to cup his cheek. "How would you feel if I kissed you right now?"

Mark's voice completely left him. He was sat opening and closing his mouth over and over until Johnny pulled him forward by the collar of his shirt to press their lips together.

It wasn't his first kiss, but it was his best kiss. Johnny's lips were a lot bigger than Mark's and completely smothered them, but Mark didn't mind in the slightest. They were warm and soft and plump, and he was varying the pressure of his lips as the kiss progressed. First soft contact, then slowly growing firmer, then gradually moving away again before starting again. A slow rolling kiss, over and over and over. It was exactly what Mark expected from their first kiss, in all honesty. It was just so _Johnny_ to kiss him like that, and it was so perfect in his opinion.

His head felt a bit fuzzy when they finally parted, but it was just amplified further when Johnny smashed their lips together again, much harder right from the start, then flashed his _tongue_ over Mark's lower lip. _Fucking hell_ , it was hot. Mark returned the kiss with as much enthusiasm and Johnny was quick to slip his tongue into the younger boy's mouth. It rubbed slow circles in Mark's mouth, tangled with his tongue, explored every inch inside of him. His entire world felt as if it was spinning as he felt Johnny take his tongue into his own mouth and gently suck the muscle a few times, but the contact was brief enough to leave it relatively innocent between them.

When Johnny pulled away, Mark was left breathless. Not just from the kiss, but also the smile that brushed over Johnny's lips when they parted. "You really enjoyed that, didn't you?" He responded to the older boy with a simple nod, and his smile only grew. "I bet you really want to kiss me again." The nod that followed came as a reflex reaction, but wasn't a lie in the slightest. Johnny slowly moved forward again so that their lips were resting only an inch apart, and Mark's eyes naturally closed in anticipation for the contact. "But it's not going to happen a third time, because if I kiss you again I'm going to want to make you my boyfriend."

"What's wrong with that?" Mark asked without missing a beat, and Johnny laughed this time.  
"Because I like sex in my relationships, so I'm not doing that with you until your eighteenth." It took a moment for him to realise the slip of the tongue, and he let out a snort before correcting himself. "I meant until you're eighteen, but if you want me on your eighteenth too, I'm fine with that."

That was exactly what Mark needed to hear. His age was the main thing that was preventing them from having a relationship, which gave him approximately six more months of waiting for Johnny to love on him, and they had gotten the first kiss out of the way already. He was surprisingly fine with the fact that Johnny wasn't going to show that much affection again for a while, probably because of the promise for more in the future. "I want it for my eighteenth," he admitted, feeling confident in his decision, and Johnny gave a small nod.  
"If that's what you want, I can get that arranged."

They had gone to bed soon after, with Johnny curled around Mark from behind and one of his arms draped over the younger boy's waist, but when Mark tried to bring up their kiss in conversation the following morning, he simply acted as if he didn't know what Mark was talking about. It had come as a disappointment, since he had hoped that they could enjoy the buzz of requited love for just a little longer, but he had quickly dropped it again regardless as not to make Johnny uncomfortable. After all, it seemed that perhaps he had been more drunk than Mark had thought and the kiss might have been more of a heat-of-the-moment, no-strings affair than he had originally anticipated.

It crushed his heart completely.

It had taken a full week for him to finally bring the kiss up again by talking it through with Donghyuck, who had immediately raised an eyebrow at him and asked whether he needed to go and sort it out for him. He wasn't the sort to watch his friend moping over being led to believe that him and his crush had something special, and whilst Mark appreciated it, he quickly decided that it was probably better for him to face his own battles. Yet, he felt weak and hopeless now; he wasn't sure whether Johnny had genuinely forgotten that it'd happened, or whether he had embarrassed himself by kissing and confessing to someone he saw as a kid. There wasn't much that he could really do about the entire situation, if he was being honest, and his only options were to push the conversation about them kissing or to just wait it out until his birthday.

Donghyuck, on the other hand, had instantly decided on being devious about it. He had expressed his irritation with the fact that his best friend wasn't being treated in a way that he deemed suitable, and had instructed Mark to stay where he was for a moment as he went to find out where he stood with Johnny. As much as Mark knew that Donghyuck wouldn't directly go to the older boy himself, the last thing he expected was for his friend to return to the room with Johnny's phone in hand. He had a habit of losing it in his bed after his morning alarms sounded and going through to make himself breakfast without even bothering to pick it up, which made it easy enough to take without him noticing for a while.

"What are we supposed to do with that?" Mark asked as he noticed it in his hand, and Donghyuck simply typed in the password that he'd seen his senior typing in multiple times in the past.  
"Isn't it obvious? If he remembers, he wouldn't be able to keep it to himself. I'm checking to see if he's text anyone about it over the past few days. It's the easy way of finding out." It was an invasion of privacy, but the younger boy had insisted that it was just a quick check on the most recent few texts and he would be returning the phone as soon as they were done. Every part of Mark was screaming to tell his friend to put it back before Johnny caught them with it, but at the same time, he was painfully curious over it.

It had taken a full fifteen minutes of checking through his messages for Donghyuck to finally let out an excited noise and turned the phone around to face him. "Your name is here - I'll let you read this one, since it's in English and all."  
Mark thanked him for finding it, and had never been more relieved in his life than when he read it. Johnny had explicitly said in the first message that he didn't regret the kiss in the slightest, but then avoided directly answering when asked how he felt about him. He had said that Mark was too young for him, too inexperienced in relationships for anything to work out between them, and it wasn't right to date a person who was essentially a colleague. He had given excuse after excuse over why they wouldn't work out until finally--

"I think I'm in love with him."  
Mark's voice caught in his throat as he read it out loud. He tried to scroll down further to see what else he might have said about it but Johnny hadn't answered the text that had asked what it meant for them both, instead opting to text back a day later about a completely different topic. He slowly handed the phone back and repeated it quietly in Korean for Donghyuck, earning a hum of interest from him in response.  
"I think you should go out of his messages and take his phone back now," he whispered, and his friend immediately did as he was asked before returning to his side and staring at him with huge eyes.  
"What now? Are you gonna try to start something with him, then?"

Mark shook his head quickly as he flopped to lay back on his bed. "I'm going to wait it out until my birthday. Use it as an excuse to try again."  
"But that's in _August_ ," Donghyuck protested, "It's _February_ Mark." Yet, Mark was firm with his decision. He didn't want to make Johnny uncomfortable by trying to push it, and besides, after years of crushing on Johnny, six months wasn't too long to wait now.

The wait was made more tolerable by the fact that Johnny had started to relax more around him and was showing him more affection again. It was satisfying enough for the moment, aiding in helping him to cross every day off his calendar as he waited for the day to come for them to finally show their love for each other.

It was a long road, but he was certain that it was going to be absolutely worth it once he was finally Seo Johnny's boyfriend.


End file.
